How to Install a Flat Panel Entertainment System

Like most families, when they aren't in the kitchen, Ron, his wife Lynn and their two children, spend the most of their time in the family room. Since the television is on most of the time, it seemed like the perfect place to install a home theater.

The challenge was to combine the best, state of the art home theater technology while maintaining the functionality of the family room. With this in mind, Ron selected a large, wall mounted flat screen that included everything he would need except for the cabling.

Their first step was to decide the best location to mount the large TV screen. The logical spot meant Ron had to take down one of his favorite paintings by California artist Howard Layte. To find out more about Layte's work, visit www.jayjayd.com

Before installing the big screen, two holes were cut into the sheetrock: one for the television cables and the other for an electrical receptacle that would provide power to the TV.

When installed, there would be six pieces of equipment in the home theater system, requiring six remote controls. Fortunately, Sean was able to set up a universal remote that replaced all the others. The universal remote control communicates with a master sensor that receives and relays signals not only to the TV, but to all the other electronic components as well.

Before installing the remote sensor, Ron sat down on the sofa to help determine how he normally holds the remote, so the sensor will be in the most convenient location.

From the basement, Sean bored holes up through the bottom of the wall and then his assistant Brian pushed a fish tape up through the holes. Once the tape was visible, it was pulled through the opening.

A cord was attached to the end of the tape and pulled back into the basement. Then wires for the TV, electrical outlet and sensor were tied to the string, which was used to pull them inside the wall and up into the family room.

Next, Sean pushed the electrical wires through the back of a box, set the box in the wall, attached the wires to a receptacle, mounted the outlet in place, and attached the cover plate.

Once the wires were in place, they mounted a plywood spacer on the wall, screwing it directly into the wall studs.

Next, they attached the television mounting plate. To bear the significant weight of the TV, the mounting plate was also secured to the wall studs, but with larger heavy duty lag screws driven in with a socket wrench. The mounting brackets were then attached to the back of the television.

They set the large screen on a table so the power cord and cables could be attached.

Then together they lifted the 100 pound television into position, which was definitely a two-person job.

The brackets on the back of the television hooked over the mounting plate on the wall, transferring the TV's weight directly to the wall studs.

Once in place, the hanging system was locked so the set could not be accidentally knocked loose. Next Sean installed the box that would house the sensor for the remote control.

The home theater included a great sound surround sound system with three front speakers, two rear speakers, and a subwoofer that was hidden behind the sofa where it would not seen.

The speaker height makes a difference in the quality of the sound. Ideally, the speaker should be mounted between the ear standing and the ear sitting. But sometimes, like when there are kids in the house, the speakers can create a potentially serious safety hazard and should be mounted out of reach.

As long as you have a speaker bracket that can tilt down, you can make up for the height difference. Not only should all the speakers be mounted at the same height, but they should also be the identical units with the same amount of power going to each one. To mount the speakers, a half inch hole was drilled and then a fish tape was inserted into the wall cavity and fed into the basement.

Speaker wire was then attached to the fish wire and pulled back up into the room above.

Next, the mounting bracket was screwed to the wall, and the wires were connected. Each speaker was then fastened to the bracket and aimed toward the seating area.

To install the sub woofer, Sean first drilled a hole into the floor near the edge of the room and the wiring was passed down into the basement. Circuitry in the sub woofer controls the timing of the sound signals through all the wall speakers, which means a lot of wires.

These wires were all gathered along with wires from the television, and brought into the equipment cabinet. All the wiring that was in the basement was ready to come upstairs.

It was precisely because of this huge bundle of wires that Ron decided to let a pro tackle this job.

With everything hooked up, it was time to do some programming. First Sean measured the distance from each speaker to the primary seating area, then he entered this data into the on screen setup program. The system used this information to automatically adjust each speaker's volume to produce a true surround sound effect.

When the installation was complete, Ron had exactly what he wanted…a state-of-the-art home theater in a room that was still useful even when the family was not watching TV, because all of the equipment was up off of the floor and out of the way.